Page 344 - (DK) Ocean - The Definitive Visual Guide

342 ANIMAL LIFE

ORDER ANGUILLIFORMES ORDER ANGUILLIFORMES
VERSATILE HUNTER
European Eel Chain Moray Eel
Most species of moray eels spend reefs at low tide during the day.
the day in holes in a reef with just It uses its sharp eyesight to search
Anguilla anguilla Echidna catenata
LENGTH Up to 4 / 4 ft LENGTH their heads sticking out, emerging for fish and crustaceans in crevices
1
1
(1.3 m) Up to 5 / 2 ft (1.7 m) at dusk to hunt. They rely on their and holes and, when it has located
WEIGHT 14 lb (6.6 kg) WEIGHT excellent sense of smell to find fish its prey, it strikes, rather like a snake.
Not recorded resting between corals and rocks.
DEPTH 0–2,300 ft Other moray eels will sometimes
(0–700 m) DEPTH Unusually, the chain moray eel strike at passing prey from their
0–40 ft (0–12 m) also hunts over rocky shores and holes during the day.
DISTRIBUTION Temperate waters of northeastern DISTRIBUTION Tropical reefs of western and central
Atlantic, fresh water inland Atlantic
Living most of its life in fresh water, The chain moray eel is one of very
the European eel swims thousands of few marine eels that can survive for
miles down to the sea and across the some time out of water, and it will short,
Atlantic Ocean to the Sargasso Sea forage over wet rocks for up to blunt
snout
to spawn. After spawning in deep 30 minutes at a time during low tide.
water, the eels die, leaving the eggs As long as it remains wet, it can absorb
to hatch into transparent, leaflike some oxygen through its skin. The
(leptocephalus) larvae. Over the next chain moray eel is easily recognized by
year or so, the larvae drift back to the its short, blunt snout and chainlike
coasts of Europe. Nearing the coast, yellow markings. Some of its teeth are
they change shape and become tiny broad and molarlike and help it to
transparent eels, or elvers, that swim cope with heavily armored prey
and wriggle their way up rivers into such as crabs. It can swallow small
fresh water. The European eel is crabs whole, but breaks up bigger
becoming increasingly scarce due ones first by twisting, tugging, and
to pressure on stocks caused by thrashing around. The chain moray eel
fishing and the damming of rivers. is a member of a large family of moray broad
eels (Muraenidae) that live on reefs teeth
throughout the tropics. Most species
of moray eels are nocturnal, but the
chain moray eel is usually active
during the day.

ORDER ANGUILLIFORMES ORDER ANGUILLIFORMES
Ribbon Eel Slender Snipe Eel

Rhinomuraena quaesita Nemichthys scolopaceus
1
LENGTH Up to 4 / 4 ft LENGTH Up to 4 / 4 ft
1
(1.3 m) (1.3 m)
WEIGHT Not recorded WEIGHT Not recorded
DEPTH 3–200 ft DEPTH 300–6,600 ft
(1–60 m) (90–2,000 m)
DISTRIBUTION Tropical reefs of Indian and Pacific DISTRIBUTION Temperate and tropical seas
oceans worldwide

Unlike most other eels, ribbon eels This long, slender, deep-sea eel has
change color and sex during their remarkable jaws, shaped like a bird’s
life. Juveniles are nearly black with a bill, with the ends turned out so that
yellow dorsal fin. As they mature, the they can never fully close. It spends
black becomes bright blue and the its life drifting in midwater, catching
snout and lower jaw turn yellow. This small crustaceans to eat. When the
is the male color stage. When they males mature and are ready to spawn,
reach a body length of about 4/4 ft their jaws shorten, they lose all their
1
(1.3 m), the males turn yellow and ORDER ANGUILLIFORMES cuttlefish. This snakelike fish has a teeth, and their front nostrils grow
become fully functional females, powerful body with smooth skin, into large tubes. This probably
which lay eggs. Ribbon eels live on Conger Eel no scales, and a pointed tail. A single enhances their sense of smell, helping
coral reefs, mostly hiding in crevices. dorsal fin runs along the back, starting them to find mature females. Little
They have leaflike nostril flaps, which Conger conger a short distance behind the head, else is known of the slender snipe eel’s
sense vibrations in the water. LENGTH continuing around the tail, and ending lifestyle, as it is rarely caught.
Up to 10 ft (3 m) halfway along the belly.
WEIGHT In the summer, adult conger
Up to 240 lb (110 kg) eels migrate into deep water in the
DEPTH Mediterranean and Atlantic to spawn
1,600 ft (0–500 m) and then die. The female lays 3–8
DISTRIBUTION Temperate waters of northeastern million eggs, which hatch into long,
OCEAN LIFE The large, gray head of a conger eel juvenile eels. They take 5–15 years
thin larvae that slowly drift back
Atlantic and Mediterranean
inshore, where they grow into
sticking out of a hole in a shipwreck
to reach sexual maturity.
The conger eel is a good
is a familiar sight to many divers. Like
their relatives the moray eels, conger
food fish and is caught in large
numbers by anglers, but it
eels hide in holes and crevices in rocky
reefs during the day, only emerging at
sometimes manages to use its
night to hunt for fish, crustaceans, and
strength to escape with the bait.